


Kohuru

by jadewolf



Category: Moana (2016)
Genre: Blood, Dark, Gen, Giant Murder Crab, Graphic Violence, Maui (Mentioned Only), Mind the Tags, People Getting Eaten, Sadistic Monsters, Torture, Violence, seriously
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-18 22:12:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11883900
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jadewolf/pseuds/jadewolf
Summary: A seasoned warrior should be careful which monsters they steal from.  They might just bite off more than they could chew.  Mind the tags.





	Kohuru

**Author's Note:**

> And now for something completely different! Indulging in a little darkness today.

Lalotai was everything Temana had dreamed of and more.Bizarre, dangerous, wild—it was finally a challenge worthy of him.Bored of fighting creatures of the surface world which he easily triumphed against, he had made his way here in search of  _real_  adventure and he had certainly found it.Rahiti, his friend since childhood, trailed behind him like a devoted dog.His friend had been hesitant, trying to talk him out of coming to the strange realm, but had ultimately conceded—as he always did—and accompanied Temana as asked.Together, they explored the glowing landscape in search of monsters to pit themselves against.They had brought along several long pikes, tipped with wicked barbed points.Rahiti dutifully carried these spears, while Temana walked ahead armed with a heavy wooden club, its edges serrated and sharp.They were prepared for anything.Or so they thought.

Soon enough, a towering structure came into view at the top of a bluff.It was a spiral shell that commanded the landscape for miles around, so large that it reached all the way into the underside of the ocean shimmering above.Even at a distance, Temana could see an enticing golden light spilling from it.It drew him in, a shining lure enticing them towards a glittering destiny—adventure at last!

As they stepped inside the cavernous shell, Temana’s eyes went wide with awe.Treasure beyond his wildest imagining lay before him.It spilled from every corner, dripped from every ledge, and lurked in every crevice.This was nothing, however, compared to the massive pile dominating the center of the chamber.Haloed in a ring of light filtered down from a hole in the roof above, the dome of treasure shone brilliantly in the sun.

Temana’s breath caught in his throat when he saw what lie at the top of the pile—a massive fishhook.

Could it be?Could it truly be?Was that the legendary, magical fishhook of Maui?What was it doing here?

Temana, like most boys of his village, had been raised on tales of the legendary demigod.The eldest of the village still remembered a time when Maui would pay visits to their island, though he had not been seen in many years.Rumor held that he was lost to the depths, but none knew for certain.Regardless, it was from these stories that Temana had come to idolize the hero he’d never met and strive to emulate him.The elders warned him time and time again that such things were beyond the realm of mortal men, but Temana had paid them no heed.

With this in mind, he looked upon the fishhook, bathed in golden light and yet reduced to just another trinket in a treasure hoard, far from its rightful owner.Temana knew he couldn’t leave it.That hook had no place being here.

Heedless of any danger, he scrambled up to the top of the glittering hoard.Behind him, he distantly heard Rahiti call out to him to wait, but he paid it no mind.Reaching the top, he stretched out a reverent hand to touch the gleaming ivory of the mythic hook.His fingers had barely brushed its exquisitely scrimshawed surface when the mountain of treasure began to move and lift beneath him.

Coming quickly back to his senses, Temana dashed down the side of the pile just as there was a shocking snap of sound behind him—loud and sharp as a crack of thunder.He dove out of the way of the unseen attack, only barely escaping it by the sound of things, and then tumbled the rest of the way down the pile.As soon as Temana hit the ground, he rolled with the momentum and sprang back to his feet.Heavy club brandished in one hand, he was ready for anything.

Anything except  _that!_

Temana’s gaze flew up and up and up.Rising where he had just stood was a monster of unspeakable size—a crab, similar in appearance to the coconut crabs of his own island, but infinitely larger than a crab had any right to be.It towered over him, taller than more than five men.What he’d thought was a simple pile of treasure was actually just the creature’s massive, elaborately decorated shell.It was missing a leg, too.The cracked stump was healed, but the injury seemed recent.Temana stared, struggling to process what he was seeing.Then the crab turned to fix its gaze upon him, a look of surprise on its expressive face.

“A human?Here?”The crab was speaking. _The crab was speaking!_

The crab’s mismatched eyes fell upon the weapon brandished in Temana’s hand and narrowed.The surprise faded and a smile spread across the crab’s face, jovial yet filled with bad intentions.“Well, look at this,” he said smoothly.“An adventurer, hm?A warrior?A  _thief?_ And you think you can take on Tamatoa and win?”The crab—Tamatoa, he called himself—chuckled.“Better than you have tried, little man.”

Pride pricked by the insult, Temana met the monster’s gaze with a brassy challenge.“I am Temana, son of Heimana and a warrior of Oroatera.You’ve no right to that fishhook and I will take it back in the name of the hero it rightfully belongs to!”

That sparked something in the giant crustacean’s eyes and for a brief moment they flashed with burning hate.That fire flickered out swiftly, however, and was replaced with a casual haughtiness.“Yet another fawning sycophant of that mini-god,” Tamatoa said dryly, rolling his eyes in disgust.“You dumb humans.Still falling for his little hero act, huh?”

Temana couldn’t help but snap back in affronted anger, insulted on behalf of a legendary figure he’d never met.“What would a monster know about it?”

“Plenty.”The crab grinned, but there was a sharp, feral edge to it.He put a claw to his chin in mock thoughtfulness, giving Temana a sly sideways look.“But what do  _you_  know about it, I wonder?”His other pincer clicked idly.“Let me guess?You grew up with  _all_  the stories of his fantastic exploits.Slowing down the sun, lifting the sky, pulling up islands—”Each point was punctuated by another staccato click of the pincer and the crab’s voice darkened with every named deed.“—fighting monsters.” 

The monster snapped a pincer fiercely now, the sound cracking through the chamber with sharp retort in contrast to the quiet clicks of before.Despite his effort to suppress it, Temana flinched ever so slightly.Briefly he wondered where Rahiti was.He couldn’t see his friend, so he must be hiding somewhere.

“And you?You want to be just like him, don’t you?So you’ve come down here to fight a few monsters yourself.Just like your  _idol_.”Tamatoa went on.He sneered the final word like an insult, a filthy jeer.“Well, you don’t look too impressive to me.Just another tiny human with delusions of grandeur.”

Temana felt his temper rise at the mockery.Common sense fled and he pointed his club at the crab in defiance.“You’re just a monster.I’ve defeated every enemy I’ve ever fought and I’ll defeat you too.”

“Come on then,” the crab invited, eyes dancing with a malevolent gleam, “show me what you’ve got.”

The crab struck first, moving with a speed nothing that size should reasonably possess.A pincer shot towards him and Temana threw himself to the side.He avoided it, but only barely.He struck back with his club, landing what would have been a devastating blow upon a man.On the crab’s heavy pincer, it barely left a scratch and the monster laughed.

“Is that the best you can do?” the crab taunted with a grin.

Irate, Temana darted forward with a yell to strike at one of the massive legs.The crab danced easily out of the way, striking at Temana in the back with the very leg Temana had been aiming at.For such an enormous creature, it was a surprisingly light blow.Nevertheless, it was more than enough to send Temana reeling.He struggled to regain his balance, somehow managing to stay on his feet.

Spinning to face his adversary, he saw the crab was laughing again, mean-spirited amusement painted loudly on his face.“You’re really not very good at this.”

“I’ve been doing this my whole life, I will win!”Howling with fury, Temana rushed at him again.Once again, he was easily rebuffed and the crab struck back with another glancing flick of a leg.

This went on and on, with Temana attacking the giant crab and Tamatoa effortlessly blocking each blow.In return, the crab poked and pushed at him with careful precision.It was never enough to do serious damage, but was steadily wearing Temana down bit by bit.Nevertheless, there was a playfulness to each hit and it dawned on Temana that the crab was toying with him.

Even knowing this, Temana fought on.It became increasingly clear, however, that he was overwhelmingly outmatched and any hope of winning began to slip away.At every turn, the crab mocked and derided him—insulting the very skills and prowess that Temana had boasted of his whole life.It steadily eroded away at his confidence, just as the physical blows chipped away at his stamina and strength.He was losing this and despair began to edge out all the cocksure faith in his abilities that he had come down here with.

Where was Rahiti?He could really use some help right now, but his friend was nowhere to be seen.Had he fled entirely?Temana had always been the stronger and bolder of the two, but despite Rahiti’s timidness Temana had never known him to run away.Though perhaps that might have been the sensible thing to do, Temana thought ruefully.

There was little time to dwell on this now.The crab was shockingly quick and gave him no spare moment to plan ahead, nor do anything but react to the latest snap or strike.How long could he keep this up before he made some fatal misstep?

Then the crab seemed to lose interest in his game.“Well, this has been fun,” Tamatoa intoned, a note of boredom in his voice, “but I think it’s about time to wrap this up.”

Temana barely had time to consider what that meant when, with only a light flick of the crab’s massive pincer, he was sent flying.He slammed into the curved wall of the cavern with enough force to knock the wind out of him.His ego wasn’t the only thing shattered by the blow, either.He slumped against the wall, pain suffusing every inch of his body.The watery light from above was suddenly blocked and the shadow of the crab fell across him.

In contrast to the boredom from moments before, the crab looked down upon him with smug satisfaction.There was a greedy glint in the creature’s eyes.“You thought you were a seasoned warrior, did you?” the crab purred, smirking nastily as he reached down with a claw towards Temana.“Well, a ‘seasoned warrior’ was exactly what I had in mind for a sna—AAAH!!”

The crab’s taunt was cut off midway by a yelp of pain.Temana looked up just in time to see Rahiti standing on the crab’s shell, behind his head.He had a spear in his hands, buried deep into the crab’s unprotected neck, embedded well past the end of the barbed spearpoint.

Something changed in the crab’s expression, shifting from playful malice to something far darker.Then the eyestalks swiveled to fix on Rahiti and a low growl built in the creature’s throat, resonating in the cavernous lair.Abandoning Temana, a claw moved lightning fast to snatch at Rahiti.

Rahiti let go of the spear and turned to run, but he simply wasn’t fast enough.He was quickly caught, plucked deftly from the creature’s shell by the massive pincer.

“Well, well.Another one!” the crab drawled, then glared down at Temana.“You didn’t mention you had brought company.”

With Rahiti captured now, Tamatoa twisted an eye to examine the spear in his neck.Gingerly, the crab reached up with his other pincer to carefully take hold of the spear’s haft.He winced as the spear shifted with the movement.The eye still facing Temana squeezed shut, then the crab yanked up on the spear and tugged it straight out with a sharp snarl of pain.Still gripping the spear in his claw, Tamatoa angrily snapped it in half and let the broken pieces fall to the ground.A thin rivulet of blue blood welled up from the wound, trickling down the monstrous creature’s neck.The crab wiped it away, then turned a vicious glare upon the one who had caused it.

“That wasn’t very nice,” he admonished, then a sneer twisted his face and he went on in a taunting croon.“Thought you’d play a bit harder, hmm?Defend your little friend?”

Temana could see that Rahiti was trembling, frozen with terror as he was clutched in the giant claw.His friend really wasn’t cut out for this sort of thing.

“Look at you,” the crab jeered.“You’re shaking like a leaf.You don’t even want to be here.”His eyes flicked down to Temana.“Let me guess, your braggart friend here made you come along?”

Rahiti quivered silently.

The crab gave him a little shake.“Speak up now!”

“Yes,” Rahiti admitted, though it came out as barely a squeak.

The crab smirked at the confirmation.“So  _brave_ , to try and save him,” Tamatoa smoothly mocked.He turned, dangling Rahiti in Temana’s line of sight.“You think he’d do the same for you?Doesn’t seem like it.”

Temana shrunk under the gaze, all his courage long since fled.Guilt rose instead, guilt that he he had gotten his friend into this and could do nothing to get him out.

“See,” the crab said smugly, triumphant at Temana’s silence.

Finding some shred of nerve, Temana managed to speak up, though his voice shook and his body refused to stand.“Just let him go,” he begged.“Please.”

Tamatoa chuckled, ignoring the plea.“You got him into this, tiny human,” he said with a dismissive flick of his antennae.Then his eyes gleamed and he leaned in towards Temana, his stance filled with menace.“An arrogant little thing.Come to think of it, you remind me of someone,” he drawled thoughtfully, a thin smile slowly spreading across his monstrous face.

Temana’s blood ran cold.Something in the crab’s expression drilled right through him—a gleeful, sadistic glint in the crustacean’s mismatched eyes.There was no hint of mercy in that gaze and Temana’s heart sank.

The crab straightened from his aggressive crouch, adopting a malicious, conspiratorial grin as he looked at Rahiti.“I had a friend once,” Tamatoa whispered to his captive theatrically.Then his eyes flicked to Temana, as if to make sure he was watching.“Do you know what he did to me?”

Rahiti stared with wide eyes at the crab, too frightened to say a word.The other pincer came up and, with a precision at odds with the crab’s enormous size, delicately seized Rahiti’s arm.Then the pincer twisted.Rahiti let out a shrill, high scream, punctuated by a crunch of bone.Blood spilled down the creature’s claws, staining them red as the flesh of Rahiti’s arm was crushed and torn.With a sharp jerk, the claw was pulled back and Temana could only stare in abject horror as his friend’s arm was ripped away at the shoulder.

His horror only grew as the crab casually tossed the severed limb in his mouth and ate it without a second thought.The world seemed to spin dizzily around Temana, leaving him lightheaded and his mouth dry.His mind struggled to wrap itself around the terrible reality, balking at accepting that his childhood friend—a loyal friend who had followed him into every battle and fight—was being so callously tortured before him.No, it was worse than just torture.The idea that this monstrous creature treated his friend as nothing more than food awakened a primal terror within him that could not be ignored.

For a brief moment, the crab turned his eyes upon Temana with a knowing look—a look promising that his turn was coming next.Temana shrank back against the wall, cowering in fear.

Rahiti was howling in agony now, shrieking and flailing in the crab’s grasp.Tamatoa flashed a cruel grin, unmoved by Rahiti’s cries.“Hurts, doesn’t it?And I’m far bigger than you, imagine how I felt!”His lifted his captive up to eye level, bringing him in closer.“I can still feel it, man,” he said, his voice low and filled with bitterness.“Like he’s still doing it to me.Over—”The crab reached up to grab Rahiti’s thrashing leg.Another twist.Another high scream.Another morsel tossed into the crab’s mouth.“—and over—”Temana looked away now, unable to watch this bloody cycle repeated again, but there was no escaping the brutal sound of it.The desperate cries, the wet tearing of flesh as the crab slowly dismembered Rahiti, and the exaggerated slurping as the crab devoured the torn limbs rang in his ears. “—and over again.”

Rahiti’s screams had tapered off to a wailing moan, growing weaker by the second.Bile rose in Temana’s throat and he fought back a wave of nausea.He didn’t want to look, knowing what he would see, but he did anyway.His friend’s body was a mangled ruin, barely more than a torso streaked with blood.His eyes were open, wide and distant, and he mumbled incoherently as he teetered on the edge of consciousness but was denied the solace of blacking out.

Temana tore his gaze away with great effort, shifting to look at the monstrous crab.Tamatoa was watching him patiently, a malicious gleam in his eye as he waited for Temana to turn his attention back that way—waiting for an audience.

With Temana watching once more, Tamatoa picked up where he had left off.“He left me to die.”His eyes were focused on Temana, but they were distant, almost as if he was looking at someone else—someone who wasn’t there, but was the real focus of his anger.“Like I was  _just a crab_ ,” Tamatoa hissed, an undercurrent of fury permeating his voice.Then the monster lifted the limp torso of Rahiti, who was still weakly moaning in dying agony, to his waiting mouth.Temana closed his eyes to spare himself the sight.

Rahiti’s voice was raised again in a shrill scream, a last desperate cry cut short by a sickening crunch of bone.Temana’s eyes flew open despite himself, just in time to see the crab bite down upon Rahiti’s body, gore staining the creature’s filthy teeth.

The crab was licking his bloody lips as he smiled down at Temana with hungry anticipation.

Temana stared up at the monster, who had stepped closer and loomed over him now.A wild look was creeping into Tamatoa’s eyes.“You know what I’m going to do if I ever see him again?” the creature said, voice darkening.

Temana began to shake, fear and dread creeping deeper in.This had been a terrible idea.He never should have come here.The elders had been right.Why had he ever thought he could do this?He should have listened.If only he had listened.

The crab reached down for him with a blood spattered claw.A bead of saliva, red with Rahiti’s blood, dripped from the creature’s foul tongue.He watched it fall through the air towards him with interminable slowness, as if time itself had been reduced to a crawl now that the end was so near.

“Here, let me show you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to raptormoon for enabling me / beta'ing this / giving me the confidence to actually post it! :D


End file.
